Vanessa Stansfield

Vanessa Stansfield grew up in Birmingham and never imagined she would play an instrument. Through her childhood and into her teens, she was a ballet dancer, and the studio was where she spent most of her hours. Music was always around her, but it was dance she lived for. Then came the knee injury that ended it. There was no slow goodbye, no gradual transition — just a sudden silence where dance used to be. Still on crutches, looking for something creative to fill the hole that ballet had left, Vanessa sat down at the piano. "I guess I got a bit manic, but in a good way," she remembers of those first months. "I just wanted to soak up as much as I could, as fast as I could." Lessons began, then practice on her own. As she got to know the instrument, she started to make her own versions of the songs she loved — Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Carole King, and others who had shaped her ear over the years. When friends heard her play, they told her that her piano had now reached the same level as her dancing once had. They thought she should share what she was doing with a wider audience. Today, Vanessa records and releases her instrumental piano versions of those songs and many others. The response from listeners around the world has surprised her, and the messages from people going through difficult times of their own have come to feel like the most meaningful part of the work. "While there's life there's hope," she says. She knows that as well as anyone.